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Shire Pharmaceuticals' Lexington research facility. The drug giant's $53 billion merger with AbbVie could be in danger if President Obama acts quickly to limit the benefits of so-called tax inversion deals.

Two big life science companies with a major presence in Massachusetts have seen stock drops in the past two days after news that President Barack Obama may act soon to limit the benefits of tax inversion deals.

Both Shire, a Dublin-based drug firm with a quarter of its 6,000 employees in Massachusetts, and Covidien, which is also based in Dublin but has all its main executives in Mansfield, have seen shares go down since Tuesday’s close. Shire (Nasdaq: SHPG) was down 5 percent since Tuesday, and Covidien (NYSE: COV) was down 3.7 percent as of 1 p.m.

But both deals could be in jeopardy if the White House acts without the help of Congress to curtail the benefits of tax inversions. Late Tuesday, news broke that Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and other officials are working on “an array of options that would essentially wipe out the economic incentive for the deals,” according to the New York Times.

“Time is of the essence,” Lew reportedly told the NYT. “We are looking at a very long list of possible ways to address the issue.”

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